


Firestorm

by SailorSol



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Ninja Storm, Power Rangers Samurai
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Families of Choice, Family, Female Characters, Female Protagonist, Friendship, Gen, Lauren Shiba Can Kick Your Ass, Male-Female Friendship, One Big Happy Ranger Family, POV Female Character, Raised by Rangers, Siblings, Team, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-03-23
Packaged: 2017-11-29 00:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>When Lauren Shiba was eight years old, the world as she knew it came to an end.</em><br/>What if Lauren's father had sent her to train with another samurai family?</p><p>(Part One complete.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this started as a what-if that [wildforce71](http://archiveofourown.org/users/wildforce71/pseuds/wildforce71) tossed out, and my brain latched on to it. I nabbed some of [Hagar's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/pseuds/Hagar) head canon regarding Cam's mother and his samurai abilities. This story wouldn't have been possible without either of them. I certainly hadn't expected it to take off quite like it did, and they have both been phenomenal in encouraging me and helping me plot this thing.
> 
> I'm not done writing this, but I have four out of five chapters that are ready to post in Part One. I will attempt to maintain some sort of regular posting schedule, but this story is pretty low priority; I just really wanted to share what I had of it so far. I plan on bringing it through the end of Samurai, with three parts total. The titles for the three parts come from the fire triangle (Heat, Fuel, Oxygen).

##  Part One: Heat

* * *

When Lauren Shiba was eight years old, the world as she knew it came to an end.

The walls of her family’s house weren’t very thick, and her father and Mentor Ji had not thought to keep their voices down; it was well past Lauren’s bedtime, after all, and she rarely disobeyed household rules. But tonight was an exception.

“It’s our safest option,” her father said, in the tone that meant he had been repeating himself and would soon lose his patience.

“You would send her to a place that so thoroughly rejects our way of life?” Ji challenged. Lauren had to cover her mouth with both hands to stop herself from making any noise; they were talking about _her_ , about sending her away from her home and her family.

“It’s the last place Xandred would ever think to look for a Samurai. I have already spoken with Kanoi, and the matter is settled.”

Ji was silent for several moments. No one ever argued with Lauren’s father when he used _that_ tone, least of all Ji. “Of course,” Ji finally said, soft enough that she almost didn’t hear him. “When do you wish to move her?”

“We can’t wait much longer. I’ll have to activate the team soon, and it would be for the best if she was safe before then,” her father replied.

Lauren didn’t stay to hear the rest of their conversation, doing her best to sneak silently back to bed.

* * *

Lauren didn’t cry. She was eight years old, and a Samurai, and she would not cry, because it was her duty to stay safe and grow up and master the sealing symbol.

Her father had explained the plan to her after their morning sparring session, about the Saito scion who had married a ninja, and their son who was a few years older than Lauren. How her father had spoken with the head of the Wind Clan and arranged for Lauren to live with them at their academy, to study alongside the older boy.

How Jayden would stay here and train with Mentor Ji and pretend to be the Shiba scion, so Master Xandred wouldn’t think to try and find her before she had mastered the symbol.

Jayden was still too little to understand. He clung to her and cried as she said goodbye, promising that she would come back. 

Her father hugged her and told her he was proud of her as he helped her into the sidecar on Ji’s motorcycle. She clutched the brush he had given her close to her chest, afraid to let go of it for even a moment. It was the only thing with the family crest that she was allowed to take with her.

The drive to the academy only took a few hours, winding along the coastline until they reached Blue Bay Harbor, and then heading up into the mountains from there. It didn’t look all that different from the woods she had grown up near, except it wasn’t home, and the man waiting for them near the waterfall wasn’t her father.

Ji was stiff next to her as he made the introductions. Lauren bowed politely to Sensei Watanabe, the way her father had taught her years ago. And then Ji was leaving, and Lauren was alone with the ninja master.

* * *

Cameron Watanabe was the most awful person in the entire world. She found a symbol in one of her books that would show if someone was a nighlock in disguise; she wasn’t entirely convinced that she hadn’t done it wrong when he didn’t react to it.

“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Cam asked, raising one eyebrow as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

Lauren scowled at him. “My brother is five, and he’s still a better Samurai than you are.”

“In case you missed the obvious, I’m not a Samurai.”

Her father had told her he was the Saito scion, but maybe she had misunderstood. He certainly didn’t act like a Samurai. At least not one that Lauren would want to fight beside. She was a Shiba; she didn’t need help from anyone else.

* * *

“There you are,” Cam snapped. She’d picked the pagoda farthest away from the training areas, but he had still managed to find her. There was no way to wipe the tears from her face without him noticing, so she didn’t bother to try, standing to face him as she clutched the letter and the morpher close.

“I apologize for missing our training session,” she said formally, though she had to focus her attention past his shoulder. She knew after two weeks at the academy that Cam hated when anyone disregarded obligations.

“What’s that?” he asked. He was looking at her hands, his entire posture tense like he was expecting an attack.

“My fath—” She paused, swallowing, and looked down at the letter Ji ha sent her. “My morpher,” she completed, proud of how there was barely a wobble in her voice as she spoke the words.

Cam didn’t move. She thought maybe he was holding his breath. She tilted her chin up, challenging him with a look to say something mean, even as the tears started down her cheeks again.

When he did move, she wasn’t ready for it, falling into a fighting stance a moment too late as his arms came around her. She struggled for a moment, until she realized he was _hugging_ her. She didn’t try to hold back the sobs after that, and Cam didn’t let go until her shoulders stopped shaking and she let go of the back of his shirt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote about half of chapter five tonight, so I figured I could put up chapter two. I am impatient about posting sometimes, can you tell? Each part will be a complete arc in and of itself, so even if there's a delay between them, I won't leave you guys hanging!
> 
> Disclaimer: Some of the dialogue in the last scene is taken directly from canon.

When she was eleven, her world ended again. Cam wouldn’t let her fight, dragging them both down into the secret underground bunker until the sensors she had helped him set up over the years told them that the space ninjas—and everyone else—were gone from the Academy grounds.

Her stomach twisted in painful knots until it was revealed that Sensei was alive, and then anger got the better of her when he presented the morphers to three of the most incompetent ninjas. Cam had, as always, found her an hour later, taking it out on one of the sparring dummies that had been safe in the bunker.

“The others have left, and my father is resting,” Cam said, keeping his distance at the edge of the room.

“It should have been you,” she said, hitting the torso of the dummy as hard as she could. She was gripping the shinai too tightly, and the impact made her hands ache. “We could have dealt with Lothor ourselves.”

Cam didn’t say anything, just made a noise that Lauren had learned meant _you’re being an idiot, and I don’t tolerate idiots_.

_You’re a Samurai, act like one!_ she wanted to reply, but she knew better than to say that out loud.

“I’ll need your help training them,” Cam finally said.

“They’re ninjas,” she said flatly.

“They’re Rangers,” he replied.

* * *

Two against one were bad odds, when Lauren wasn’t morphed like the Thunder Rangers. But the Wind Rangers were in the middle of a zord battle, and it was up to her to protect Cam while he dealt with that.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Crimson asked. “A stray ninja brat?”

“I am _not_ a ninja,” she snarled, her father’s brush tight in her hand.

“Then we won’t have any problem making you come quietly, will we, little girl?” Navy asked.

“Fat chance of that,” she said, throwing the symbol for fire at them. It did little more than surprise them, the Ranger suits protecting them from the worst of it. But it was enough to distract them and make sure Cam knew they had company.

They may have surprised her by showing up in Ops, but they were the ones in for a surprise as she didn’t give them a chance to recover from her attack, charging with her sword drawn. She was fast, but they were faster. She managed to get in a handful of decent blows before Navy pulled a blaster.

She woke in the back of Cam’s mobile headquarters truck to the Winds having yet another victory celebration.

“What happened?” she asked Sensei, who had formed himself a blanket nest on the cushion next to her.

“The Thunder Rangers discovered the truth about their parents’ deaths,” Sensei told her. “They are no longer our enemies.”

She rubbed absently at the bruise on her chest that the Navy Ranger’s blaster had left, watching Cam praise Shane for a job well done saving his father. She had a feeling she would need to watch the security feed if she wanted to find out just what had happened while she had been out.

* * *

“So if you’re not a ninja,” Hunter asked from the edge of the training mats, “what are you?”

She paused in the middle of her kata, giving him a long look. He didn’t seem confrontational, but he was better at hiding his emotions than the Winds.

“I’m a Samurai,” she told him. He was silent, considering her. She kept herself still, ready for attack but muscles loose.

“I never realized the Wind Academy was also the Samurai Protection Society,” he said.

She wanted to tell him that she didn’t need ninjas protecting her, but she couldn’t lie that blatantly. “Sensei took me in as a favor to my father.”

“They must have been good friends,” Hunter said.

“They only ever met once,” she told him, returning to her kata.

* * *

“Yeah, but you’re like, a full on super ninja master,” Dustin was complaining to Sensei, after all of the ninjas had failed to break the block of stone. Lauren was tucked in a corner of Ops with a book on Samurai history, watching the exchange. None of the ninjas, not even the more observant Thunders, noticed as Cam approached the still-whole block.

Lauren wasn’t surprised by the loud crack. The others were staring openly in shock.

“What?” Cam asked.

“All right, how did you do that?” Shane asked in return. “You used some laser beam thing, right?” Lauren placed a marker in her book, setting it aside carefully.

“Or you switched the bricks or something,” Dustin suggested. Cam picked up one of the halves and heaved it towards the Earth ninja.

“Okay, maybe not,” Dustin said, nearly dropping it on his foot.

“It’s gotta be a trick,” Hunter said. Lauren stood; she had expected better from him.

“You still don’t get it, do you,” Cam said. He sounded hurt, under the harsh tone.

“Get what?” It was no surprise that Shane asked that question. He’d been improving as a ninja, and he hadn’t been a complete failure as a Ranger, but he still hadn’t figured out what it meant to be the Red Ranger.

“Just because someone isn’t a Ranger doesn’t make them completely useless,” Cam snapped. His statement was met by stunned silence. “I need some air,” he said, taking the stairs out of Ops two at a time.

Tori started to follow him, but Lauren cut her off with a glare. “I think you’ve done enough damage today,” she said to the older girl. “Maybe you should work on breaking other things,” she added with a pointed look towards the pile of blocks.

By the time she caught up with Cam, he was skipping rocks on the lake.

“I would gladly have you fight at my side as a Samurai,” she told him.

“I can’t be a Samurai any more than I can be a ninja,” he said bitterly. “And I’ll never be a Ranger.”

She slipped her arms around him, waiting for him to relax into her hug. “Ranger or not, I’d still want you by my side.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, I finished chapter five finally, which means I can post chapter three! This is probably one of my most favorite chapters, so far, and I've been super anxious to get it posted. So here you go, happy Wednesday!

It was almost painful to look at the ninjas, so obviously drained with their Ranger powers trapped in a jar. She had expected them to complain, to accept defeat at being powerless, but Shane hadn’t even hesitated once Cam had got a lock on Madtropolis.  
  
They didn’t have enough power left for a zord battle, but they didn’t have any other options. Lauren watched the fight on the screen, gripping the back of Cam’s chair tightly.  
  
“They’re out of energy. Isn’t there anything we can do?” Cam snapped at Sensei.  
  
“In the past, there was a power mighty enough to help us,” Sensei replied cryptically. “But there is no sense in longing for what has long since been destroyed.”  
  
“This is no time for riddles, Dad,” Cam said, taking his glasses off in frustration. “You know something. What is it?”  
  
“Sensei—” Lauren started, morpher already in hand.  
  
“No, Lauren,” Sensei interrupted her. “You know why you cannot join this fight.”  
  
“Dad, if there is a way, you have to tell me,” Cam said.  
  
“It’s useless to discuss. We cannot safely predict how the portal would respond to—”  
  
“The Scroll of Time!” Cam said, nearly knocking Lauren over as he pushed himself out of his chair towards the library of scrolls. “Of course!”  
  
Sensei flipped across the room, landing on the shelf in front of Cam. “No,” Sensei said. “You must not disturb that which is the natural progression of time.”  
  
“If I don’t do something, there won’t be any time left,” Cam retorted. “You know I have to do this. I have to go back in time and get the one power source that will help us.”  
  
“To confront one’s past is an awesome responsibility. It risks changing everything you know about the present,” Sensei warned.  
  
“I have to take that chance,” Cam said. Lauren held her breath, waiting to see what Sensei would do. “Thanks, Dad,” Cam said when he stepped aside, allowing Cam to take the scroll from the stack. He unraveled it carefully. It glowed brightly. Lauren could feel the power washing off of it.  
  
“Cam,” Lauren protested, at the same time Sensei said “Our time here will be frozen until the writing on the scroll fades away.”  
  
Cam looked between the two of them, offering Lauren a regretful smile. “I can’t think of anything more desperate than this. Can you?”  
  
She shook her head, unable to trust her voice.  
  
“And I can’t think of any power source but one that can save us,” Cam said. “I’m going back to the past to get it.”  
  
“Cam, you must hurry, or you will be trapped in the past forever,” Sensei said.  
  
“I know. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”  
  
“You have your mother’s courageous heart, and your father’s stubborn head. Be careful, my son.”  
  
 _The heart of a Samurai_ , Lauren wanted to add, but Cam smiled and spoke before she could.  
  
“I’ll be back. I promise.”  
  
And in a flash of light, he was gone.  


* * *

  
Lauren had to fight the grin as she approached Cam after the ninjas finally left for the evening.  
  
“You’ve already said _I told you so_ several times,” Cam said dryly, still admiring the new uniform that Shane had presented to him after their battle.  
  
She ignored his comment, bowing formally. He returned the bow, probably more out of instinct than understanding. That would come in a moment. “As the Head of House Shiba, it is my duty and my honor to greet you as a fellow Samurai, and to acknowledge you as Head of House Saito,” she said, bowing again. She waited for him to bow again, matching her depth precisely. “Congratulations.”  
  
“Thank you,” he replied; his broad grin was gone, but she preferred the small, pleased smile.  
  
“Also? I _told_ you so,” she added, sticking her tongue out at him.  
  
He rolled his eyes and pulled her into a hug. “And you’re never going to let me forget it, are you, you little urchin?”  
  
“Not a chance,” she replied cheerfully.  


* * *

  
“And where do you think you’re going?” CyberCam asked, appearing in front of Lauren.  
  
“Grocery shopping,” she replied, stepping around his projection even though he wasn’t solid.  
  
“Isn’t that Cam’s job?” CyberCam said skeptically.  
  
“He’s busy, and we’ve been out of milk for three days now.” Tori had promised to pick some up, but Lothor had been keeping the Rangers busy. Today was worse than usual, with the addition of Shane’s brother in town. Lauren still didn’t understand how that was a bad thing, but this was just another thing that Shane took for granted.  
  
“Not meaning to rain on your parade or anything, but how do you even plan on getting into town?”  
  
Lauren gave him a disparaging look as she sketched the symbol—one of the last ones her father had ever shown her, for her eighth birthday.  
  
“It’s a horse,” CyberCam said, sounding somewhere between amused and horrified.  
  
Lauren climbed onto the horse’s back and looked down at the hologram. “Any other questions?”  
  
“You know you need to pay for groceries, don’t you?”  
  
“Some of us have been around longer than a couple of weeks, you know,” she retorted.  
  
“Okay, Little Miss Thought of Everything, what’s to stop me from telling Cam you’re leaving?” CyberCam challenged.  
  
“He’s busy, CyberCam. Let him figure out how to help those people. I’m just going grocery shopping. I’ll be there and back before anyone even notices I was gone,” she replied.  
  
“I have a bad feeling about this,” CyberCam said.  
  
She held out the cell phone Cam had been tinkering with for weeks towards CyberCam. “Are you coming or not?”  


* * *

  
By the time the Rangers had defeated Eyezak and returned to Ops, Lauren had scrubbed the tears from her cheeks and was waiting for them. The ninjas were oddly silent as they filed in, Cam taking the lead.  
  
“Are you okay?” Cam demanded.  
  
Lauren nodded, unable to look him in the eye. She couldn’t get the image out of her mind of him lying on the ground at Master Xandred’s feet with the other Samurai Rangers, the Wind Academy flooded by the Sanzu and her family house in flames. “Thank you for defeating the monster and freeing everyone from its spell,” she directed towards Shane, bowing formally.  
  
“What’s your problem?” Shane asked in return; there was anger in his tone, which surprised Lauren, because she actually meant her gratitude.  
  
“What Shane means,” Tori said, cutting in, “is that you scared us. You could have been hurt.”  
  
“I’m fine,” Lauren replied, meeting Tori’s worried look head on. “I know how to take care of myself.”  
  
“Running off by yourself isn’t a very good way of demonstrating that,” Cam said irritably.  
  
“Dude, I don’t know about the rest of you,” Dustin interrupted, breaking formation to stand between Shane and Lauren, “but that nightmare collar thing sucked. Can’t we just order a pizza and watch a movie or something?”  
  
“I think that sounds like a great idea,” Tori said, moving to wedge herself under one of Dustin’s arms. “Are you guys staying?” she directed towards Blake and Hunter.  
  
Shane was still giving Lauren an intense look. Dustin reached out towards her, and she reacted without thinking, putting him in an arm bar. Shane started yelling, his voice echoing off the stone walls. She let go of Dustin as soon as she realized what she had done, backing off. Shane started in her direction, but Blake stopped him. Hunter dropped into a crouch next to her.  
  
“Hey,” he said; his tone was solid enough for her to focus on. “Why don’t you show me that new sword technique you’ve been working on while everyone else watches a movie?” Hunter suggested.  
  
She glanced towards the other ninjas; Blake was still blocking Shane, who was still tense and upset; Tori and Dustin were both loose, watching her warily; Cam was giving her an unreadable look, though he was standing closer to Shane than he had been before. They were all waiting for her response. She looked back to Hunter; he was the only one who ever showed any interest in her training, and she could use an outside opinion.  
  
“Okay,” she said.  
  
He reached forward slowly, telegraphing his every move as he touched her right hand lightly. “And why don’t you put that away for now?”  
  
She stared down at her white knuckles in surprise; she didn’t even remember pulling her brush out. Hunter’s fingertips were warm on the back of her hand as she forced herself to relax enough to slide the brush back into the pocket of her training pants. She barely even flinched as he rested his hand on her shoulder lightly, giving her a smile.  


* * *

  
"Think you can make some room for the rest of us, Shamu?" Lauren said to Tori. The older girl had homework spread out all over the table in Ops.  
  
"Sorry," Tori apologized, rolling her eyes at Lauren, but she didn't move any of her books or papers. Lauren pushed some of them aside; a book toppled to the floor.  
  
"Dude, what's your problem?" Dustin asked. Lauren scowled at him, putting her own book down in the spot she had cleared, dropping down onto the red cushion before her legs gave out.  
  
"Some of us have _important_ things to study," she said, opening to a marked page.  
  
"Don't you have a room of your own or something?" Blake said.  
  
She did, and normally she'd have gone there, but she had been practicing symbols all morning and wasn't really sure she'd have made it. "I live here. _Every_ room is mine."  
  
"Lauren," Cam said warningly.  
  
"Sure, side with _them._ Figures you still won't pick your own side."  
  
"That's enough," Shane snapped. She was on her feet and sketching a symbol before he could react, but his blast of air blew out the flames and knocked her back onto the ground. Shane was on top of her a moment later, pinning her down.  
  
"None of you deserve to be Rangers," she snarled, trying to get at least a hand free so she could use another symbol on him. But he was more than twice her size, and she had no leverage.  
  
"You need to chill," Shane ordered.  
  
She spit at him, but he didn't back off. None of her training had prepared her for this, and fatigue was catching up fast. Why wasn't Cam helping her?  
  
"Get off me," she demanded. "You can't even fight properly."  
  
"I'm not going to fight you," Shane said.  
  
"So you're a chicken now instead of a hawk?"  
  
"What is _wrong_ with you?" Shane asked.  
  
She meant to say that he was what was wrong, but a sob came out instead. Her vision blurred as tears stung her eyes. "Get off," she demanded again, but it came out sounding more like a plea.  
  
He kept a loose grip on her wrists, but stopped straddling her. She didn't have the energy to sit up, trembling as she tried to fight the tears, screwing her eyes shut. "Everything is wrong with me."  
  
She was the only one making any noise, her breathing painfully loud. "Lauren," Cam said from somewhere to her left.  
  
"I can't do it. I can't master the symbol," she said. "I've failed."  
  
Shane gently pulled her up by her wrists, wrapping his arms around her. He was warm, and solid, and didn't try to tell her it would be okay; how could it, if every time she tried the sealing symbol, she couldn't finish it?  
  
"We'll figure something out," Shane said instead.  
  
He always did, too, no matter how bad things got. She clung to him, burying her face against his chest. If anyone could find another way, it would be Shane.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two is shaping up nicely, and I've got some solid ideas for part three, so moving onward!

Lauren sat at the table, the cup of green tea warm in her hands. She had read that some people thought their future could be seen in the leaves, but she already knew what her destiny was. She took a sip, steeling herself.  
  
“Centuries ago in Japan, nighlock monsters invaded our world,” she began, keeping her attention focused on her cup. “Samurai warriors defeated them with power symbols, which they passed down from parent to child, for when the nighlock return and try to flood the earth with water from the Sanzu River.”  
  
“The Sanzu River?” Dustin asked.  
  
“Its water is soaked in human misery,” Lauren replied. “It poisons anything it touches.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“So you’re trying to learn this symbol in case these nighlock things come back after a couple hundred years of being gone?” Blake asked.  
  
“They’ve already come back,” she said, scowling at him. “My father led his team of Samurai Rangers against Master Xandred, but he—” Her throat closed up. She took another sip of her tea. “He hadn’t mastered the sealing symbol yet. He used up all his power to send the nighlock back to the Netherworld so that I would have the time to master it.”  
  
“But why bring you here?” Tori asked.  
  
“The last place the nighlock would think to look for a Samurai would be a ninja academy,” Lauren replied. “And everyone knew about Cam’s mother. She wasn’t from one of the five families, but the Saitos were—are—very powerful.”  
  
“Let me get this straight; your father was the Red Ranger, and his morpher passed on to you when he died in battle?” Shane asked.  
  
Lauren placed her father’s morpher carefully on the table. “And the children of his team inherited their parents’ morphers as well,” she said.  
  
“Did their parents die too?” Shane asked. “Everyone’s parents die just so the next generation of weapons can be armed?”  
  
“I don’t know if they died,” she replied. “Mentor Ji didn’t say in his letter.”  
  
“Hold on. You found out your father died in a letter?” Tori asked. “That’s terrible.”  
  
“It wasn’t safe for me to stay once the nighlock started attacking again,” Lauren replied. “No one could know that I existed before I’m ready.”  
  
“And if the nighlock decide to come back before you’re ready?” Hunter asked.  
  
“The Rangers will fight them,” she said. “They’ll make sure I have enough time.”  
  
Or die trying.  


* * *

  
Lauren found Hunter sitting on a rock in the middle of the field where he’d kept the shards of the Gem hidden.  
  
“You shouldn’t be out here by yourself,” he said as she approached.  
  
“I’m not,” she replied, lowering herself to the ground in front of him.  
  
He gave her a wry look in return. “Was this Cam’s plan to get me to come back to Ninja Ops?”  
  
She shook her head. “Cam was going to give you a while longer before coming out here himself.”  
  
“Do I need to call him and tell him you’re here before he starts freaking?” Hunter asked.  
  
“Sensei knows I’m here.”  
  
He relaxed at that, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. “Why are you here, anyway?”  
  
She plucked a blade of grass and twisted it in her lap. “If you had known Cam wouldn’t be able to free the other ninjas, would you still have given him the Gem?” she asked, keeping her attention on her hands.  
  
Hunter didn’t reply immediately. When she chanced a look at him, his attention was focused off towards the horizon. “Yes,” he finally said, shifting his attention to her. “The shards weren’t doing me much good, buried out here. And if Condortron hadn’t attacked, Cam would have been able to free the ninjas. It was the right thing to do.”  
  
“I wish it was that easy for me,” she said, dropping her eyes down to the ground again.  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“I know that helping others is the right thing to do, but sometimes I would do anything to see my family again,” she replied.  
  
He huffed; it sounded almost like a laugh. “It wasn’t easy for me. It was… one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” he said, sliding off the rock to sit next to her on the ground. “And your parents are looking after you just like mine are.”  
  
“Can I ask you something?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
She hesitated, shredding the blade of grass into little bits. “If you had to choose between helping strangers and being with Blake…” Hunter tensed. “Never mind,” she said, getting to her feet quickly.  
  
Hunter stood just as quickly, putting a hand on her shoulder. She stilled. “You asked that question for a reason, Lauren.”  
  
“I have a brother,” she said softly. “Jayden. He’s three years younger than me.”  
  
Hunter’s hand twitched, but he didn’t let go of her. “Where is he?” he practically demanded. “On Lothor’s ship?”  
  
She shook her head. “He stayed behind when my father sent me here.”  
  
“Stayed behind where the nighlock could find him?” Hunter asked. There was a dangerous edge to his voice now.  
  
She shrugged out of his grip to turn and look him in the eye. “Yes. He had to.”  
  
“Let me get this straight. You were eight and your father decided to send you away to live in hiding with people he didn’t know so you could train day and night, and your five year old brother was left behind where it wasn’t safe?”  
  
“Yes,” she replied. “He _had_ to,” she repeated. “It’s the plan.”  
  
“The plan?” Hunter asked. A horrified look crossed his face. “No. You’ve got to be kidding me. Please tell me your father didn’t set your brother up as some sort of nighlock bait.”  
  
She swallowed hard. “It’s the only way.”  
  
Hunter swore. She stepped back from him warily; he could be unpredictable when he was angry, and she wasn’t sure the last time she’d seen him this angry. “Where is he now?” Hunter asked.  
  
She knew what he would do, if she told him; the temptation was overwhelming. She hadn’t seen her brother in nearly four years, and seeing what the ninjas faced in their fight against Lothor, knowing her brother would face similar to protect her from Xandred, made her sick to her stomach. “You can’t, Hunter. It has to be this way.”  
  
“You would let your brother risk his life like that?” he demanded. She knew how protective he was of Blake.  
  
She had to turn away from him. “It’s my duty to master the sealing symbol. No matter the cost. Protecting others is the right thing to do.”  
  
He was silent long enough that she thought he might have left, but then he touched her shoulder again. “Yeah,” he acknowledged softly. “It is.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brings Part One to an end. I've got some good progress on the next two parts, so hopefully there won't be too long of a wait before I start posting Part Two.

“You coming to the Action Games with us?” Dustin asked, breaking Lauren’s concentration when she was three quarters of the way through the sealing symbol.

“No. I plan on staying here and enjoying the peace and quiet,” she said, glaring at him.

He held up his hands defensively. “Dude, lighten up. I just thought you might want to come out and have some real fun for once. Sorry I wasted my time being nice.”

She knew Sensei had already said it was okay for them to go, and Cam was planning on joining his teammates, but it still felt wrong to Lauren. Lothor’s attacks had become more focused lately; she didn’t like to admit it, but Lauren was starting to get scared.

“You guys coming or what?” Blake asked, coming into the training room. “Everyone’s ready to go.”

Dustin was giving her a look, like he was waiting for her to change her mind even though she’d just snapped at him. Typical, really; she still hadn’t figured out if he just didn’t get when people were being mean to him, or if he ignored it and hoped they’d feel guilty. He hadn’t had to invite her along; none of the others had. But an afternoon without distractions sounded a lot more appealing than wasting her time at a crowded sports event.

“Thank you for the invitation,” she said to Dustin.

He looked almost disappointed, but shrugged a moment later. “Whatever, dude.”

Blake gave her an unreadable look before turning to leave. “Good luck,” she called out, just after they had both passed through the door. She wasn’t entirely sure why she’d said it, but it seemed important, and the grins they both gave her made her warm inside.

* * *

Lauren let Tori fuss over her wrist, pressing closer to Hunter at her side. She’d been nearly convinced that the Thunder Rangers had been killed when Vexacus destroyed their zords and Cam couldn’t find them on his scanners, but they had shown up shortly after Shane, Dustin, and Tori had dug Lauren out of the rubble of Ninja Ops. She tried to tell herself that it was the dust in the air that was causing her eyes to water.

“We have to stop the Abyss from opening,” Shane said. “There has to be a way.”

“We need help,” Blake said. “Ninja help,” he added, before Lauren had a chance to say anything. The bandage Tori had wrapped around her wrist was tight, and she wouldn’t be able to make some of the more precise brushstrokes, but that didn’t mean she had to be useless in a fight. If Lothor hadn’t knocked her out right away, she could have stopped him from taking Cam.

“Where are we gonna find that?” Shane asked.

“Lothor’s ship,” Hunter said. She could feel the tension in his body as he spoke. “Every ninja on the planet is locked up there.”

“We could take the Dragonforce vehicle,” Dustin said, standing up in excitement.

“Wait,” Hunter said, also standing up. “Blake and I should go alone. We’ve been on Lothor’s ship, we know where to look for the others.”

The others looked grim, but they weren’t disagreeing with Hunter. Lauren stood as well. “You can’t,” she protested, hating the way her voice cracked.

“We don’t have a choice,” Hunter said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“You two almost died already today, and now you think it’s a good idea to walk right into Lothor’s stronghold?” she shrugged his hand off, glaring at him.

“No one’s dying on my watch,” Shane said firmly.

“You don’t know that,” Lauren said, hand slipping into her pocket where she kept her brush. Shane didn’t look anything like her father, or act like him at all, except here he was preparing to lead his team into a fight they probably couldn’t win. Tears blurred her eyesight.

“And they’ll get Cam back, too,” Tori said softly. The five ninjas all shuffled closer to Lauren, offering comfort. She tried not to think about the last time she had seen her father and her brother, when she had been too little to help or really understand what was going on. But even knowing more now, she came to the same conclusion she had last time; this was the only way.

“Be careful,” she whispered. Hunter rested his hand on her shoulder again, squeezing briefly.

* * *

“Come sit,” Sensei told her. “We have one of the monitors operational.”

Lauren picked up another piece of rubble with her good hand, moving it to the pile she was forming near the entrance. “Someone needs to clean this place up,” she told him. She resisted the urge to rub at her eyes; the grit on her hands would only make her eyes water worse.

“Lauren,” Sensei said, a stern edge in his voice. “Your effort is making no difference.”

She hunched her shoulders in, wincing at the pain in her wrist as she curled her fingers around the brush tucked into her right pocket. “It won’t clean itself,” she said. Her voice cracked; the dust was making her mouth dry, too.

She heard Sensei move across Ops, his hand coming down to rest on her shoulder. “You should not be doing this while injured. Come sit with me.”

She shook her head. “I can’t, Sensei,” she said. “We should be out there helping them, not sitting in here watching.”

“You know why we cannot,” he said, keeping his tone gentle.

Of course she knew why; it was the same reason her father had sent her away before he died, the same reason why she couldn’t see her brother. If the Rangers won with her help, it wouldn’t matter anyway, because the nighlock would know she was in hiding. She had to believe that they were stronger than her father had been, that they could beat Lothor and all come home after and she wouldn’t lose any more of her family.

She turned and buried her face against Sensei’s chest. He brought his arms up around her and let her cry.

* * *

The last three days had been busy--the end of the Action Games, graduation, getting old and new students settled into the restored grounds. Lauren hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to Shane, Tori, and Dustin since they had defeated Lothor.

They turned as one to face her as she approached them, the students cleared off for the afternoon. When she was five paces away, she stopped and bowed; they were teachers now, and it was proper to show them the respect they were due. Shane returned the bow first, with Tori and Dustin following suit a moment later.

“The formality would be a lot more believable if you weren’t trying to hide a grin, Imp,” Shane commented dryly.

“You wouldn’t know a grin if it hit you upside the head, Bird Brains,” she replied. She didn’t make it much longer before she gave up trying to keep a serious expression.

“How’s the wrist?” Tori asked.

Lauren held up her right hand and rotated it around for them to see. “Better. Sensei still wants me to take it easy though.”

“Sensei’s right, dude,” Dustin said. “He totally knows what he’s talking about.”

Lauren rolled her eyes. “I hope your students don’t have as much blind faith in you as you do in Sensei,” she said. She softened her words with a smile.

“Hey!” Dustin protested. Tori laughed and Shane gave Dustin a rough pat on the back.

“So what’s it like?” she asked, once they stopped laughing.

“What’s what like?” Tori asked.

“Winning,” Lauren replied.

The three of them exchanged a silent look before Shane stepped forward, putting a hand on Lauren’s shoulder. “Give it a few years, and you’ll know for yourself.”


End file.
